African
countries converge for first Regional
Learning Forum on climate finance in Namibia

WINDHOEK (Xinhua) -- Namibia
will host six southern African countries to share learnings on
accessing climate finance from Thursday to Friday in the coastal
town of Swakopmund.

Namibia’s Environmental Investment Fund’s Lazarus Nafidi Wednesday
said more than 40 representatives from six southern African
countries will meet in what will be the first of two Regional
Learning Forums on climate finance in southern Africa.

“The participants will represent the National Designated Authorities
of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the accredited entities to the
GCF located in each of the six countries,” he added.

The forum is convened by SouthSouthNorth (SSN) under the Southern
Africa Climate Finance Partnership Project, and is co-hosted by
Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, in partnership with Namibia’s
Environmental Investment Fund.

SSN supports national and regional responses to climate change
through policy and knowledge interventions, partnerships and deep
collaboration.

Nafidi said the project seeks to promote learning and sharing across
six focus countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa,
Zambia, and Zimbabwe) in response to the challenges faced by
countries seeking to access the GCF.

According to Nafidi, the results of the forum will inform a series
of vital regional discussions on climate finance access for the six
focus countries, which will culminate in a second forum scheduled to
take place during the first half of 2019.